# Help--winter temperatures-- humidity won't stay up b/c of cold weather!



## jackcrab (Nov 28, 2010)

Hi, I live in washington and the humidity in my humidor was around 68-70% all the time during the summer, but now that it's cooled off and the air is drier, my humidity stays around 60-62. anyone have any tricks for raising the temp without having to jack up the thermostat on my house? i am guessing the lower humidity is due to the colder temps/drier winter air. i keep my house a bit cooler in the winter b/c i don't want to pay a high gas bill!

would wrapping my humidor in some wool blankets help? it is an all wooden, non-glass humidor.

thanks in advance!


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## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

Do you use beads, kitty litter? Or just some DW?


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## canuck2099 (Oct 13, 2010)

I am having exactly the same problem. I've recently started using the crystal kitty litter and that was working great (67 - 68 %) but its now reduced down to 62 - 63 % with the cooler temps.

I guess one thing that I could do is to return to the sponge and the Propelyne Glycol fluid for the winter months. That stuff seemed to to keep the rh at around 70% pretty well. I actually want to have it at around 68% so with the drier air it might work out.


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## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

Can add a little more DW to the kitty litter.


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## CALIFORNIA KID (Nov 21, 2010)

jackcrab said:


> would wrapping my humidor in some wool blankets help? it is an all wooden, non-glass humidor.
> 
> thanks in advance!


A blanket works by retaining body heat, not creating it; but i think your on the right track. I don't have extreme winters where I live, so this is completely untested; but it works in my mind. What about getting a small electronic heating pad, like the ones used for sore muscles or to put at the foot of your bed on a cold night. Place the heating pad under your humi (heat rises) and through the temperature control of the heating pad and then if that is not enough, blankets on and/or around your humi. This is just an idea so if you try it let me know how it goes.


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Must have to add water to beads/KL more often in the winter.
My buddy moves his cooler to a closet and puts a very small
heater in it.....He maintains 70* and really hasn't seen a hit on his electric bill....

On a similar note, I run humidifiers in my house all winter.
It really helps.......


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## jackcrab (Nov 28, 2010)

Wow, I really like that heatin pad idea. Definitely going to go pick one up at the store today! I don't see how that wouldn't work. Awesome!


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## Barefoot (Jun 11, 2010)

I would suggest adding the DW first. Just how cold is the area around the humidor?


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## Zfog (Oct 16, 2010)

I am wondering what type of hunidification you are using? I don't know if the heat pad will work. If it does then great! I personally would prefer controlling the heat in that room solely and alter the current state of your humidification device.


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## Onlydominican (Aug 24, 2010)

jackcrab said:


> Hi, I live in washington and the humidity in my humidor was around 68-70% all the time during the summer, but now that it's cooled off and the air is drier, my humidity stays around 60-62. anyone have any tricks for raising the temp without having to jack up the thermostat on my house? i am guessing the lower humidity is due to the colder temps/drier winter air. i keep my house a bit cooler in the winter b/c i don't want to pay a high gas bill!
> 
> would wrapping my humidor in some wool blankets help? it is an all wooden, non-glass humidor.
> 
> thanks in advance!


Hey Jackcrab,

I have the same problem as you. I live in Connecticut and these New England winters are unforgiven. I have electric heat at home and that means that the heat is on only when the wife or I get home from work. So during the day, with the heat off, the temp in my humi goes down to 53 - 54. When we get home and the heat is on, the temp goes up to 63-64.

The one thing I have found to work well to keep the humidity up, regardless of temp, are the beads. They work as advertised. I have the 70% beads and the humidity ranges from 66 to 70. During the winter months I do have to recharge them more often, about once every 1.5 weeks. So go ahead, spend the money on the beads: they are worth it.

Just one last thing: if you are able to stabilize the humidity, then don;t worry too much about the temp. Low temperatures, meaning, on the 50s, will not harm your cigars AS LONG AS the humidity is at appropriate levels, i.e. 64 to 70%.

Good luck.


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

I would be careful having 10 degree swings every day.
Mid 50's to mid 60's is not good. You will have wrapper problems.... I was at home depot today and saw a 12 inch
oil filled heater with thermostat for 30.00.

That in a closet could keep them at a constant 65* pretty cheaply.....


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Just a PS
The issue is that as temp rises tobacco will absorb more moisture.,,,,,and the reverse is true. Swings like that 
will wreck good cigars. They will loose the oils that we have all come to love....


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## BillyVoltaire (Jun 23, 2009)

I give my humidors much more attention in the winter than in the summer, mostly due to the low low humidity we see in the winter. Now the cooler is pretty hands off, excellent seal on that guy, but my desktop humidors definitely don't have great seals as I have to really keep an eye on the humidity and beads to keep them at a good level.

DF


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## golfguy (Apr 24, 2010)

Lots of good ideas above, and let me throw one more at you - Have you double checked your hygrometer with a boveda or a salt test? 

I thought I was fighting this issue as well because my hygro had recently been reading 58-59% humidity. I use hf 65% beads, and since the temps and humidity dropped, I've have had to recharge them much more often. Turns out, the beads are working their magic (no surprise). 48 hours into a salt test, it appears that my hygro is reading 6% low.


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## AJ FERNANDEZ FAN (Aug 10, 2010)

I added more Kitty Crystals and DW to the humi and it is working fine!!! 62-66% RH is ok in the winter months. I would rather that then see ya heat up the air. In the winter months it could get to 60 Degrees down in South America so dont rack your brain brother!!!!!


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## AspiringGent (May 15, 2009)

It's really tough to control ambient humidity, especially when the furnace kicks in. I wrote an article a while back that might come in handy.

Controlling Ambient Humidity


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Simply stated

Temperature swings greater than 5 or 6 degree a day will really hurt cigars 

Because of dry air in the Winter, recharging (often) Bead/KL required to maintain the same RH....

Cigars stored in the mid 50's will smoke dry and may not make it back due to the loss of oils

If you don't have much $$$ in cigars, no worries.
If you have 1000's, get a space heater and add water to beads/KL


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## BillyVoltaire (Jun 23, 2009)

As mentioned, you really have to keep an eye on your humidification device in the winter. My cooler doesn't require a lot of attention, but my desktop beads require recharging much more frequently in the winter. Thinking about buying another cooler and simply placing my desktop in there for winter (I try to keep that one at 60%).

BV


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

I too have a cpl desktops that struggle...
Keeping a humidifier in the room helps...

But started keeping a "seven day" pill container
with SATURATED beads on the bottom of the hummies
and it is holding 65 spot on


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## TheFreakShow (Jul 13, 2010)

I recently had to add more KL and more DW for my edgestar just for this reason. RH dropped to about 62-63%, now it is back up to 65 - 66%. Now my desktop (50 ct) handles the temp swings better, as it is packed full of cigars and that seems to help buffer the RH. So if I was you I would buy a whole bunch more cigars to help buffer the RH :rockon:


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## Kook (Apr 20, 2010)

I run into some of the same issues. The first thing I'm going to do is take my humidors out of the basement and put them in my office one floor up. It should stay about 5 deg warmer in there.


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## Dando (Jul 16, 2010)

Had my stash in my garage here in Philly (current weather) but don't need to heat that much space just for cigars so I put them in a utility closet next to the garage. The closet is about 8' x 4'. The temperature in there was about 52 F.

I thought about an electrical heater but decided to try something different first. I left the 60 watt bulb on overnight and when I checked the closet temp the next morning it was 62-64 and humidity was at 68-70 in all containers. By the way, my stash is on the floor so that is where I measured the temp. Also I have a hygrometer in every cooler, tub and humidor so I used the highest and lowest reading to report the range.

All coolers and tubs use ExquisiCat Crystals Cat Litter (unscented). The humidors use heartfelt 70RH beads.

I turned on another 60 watt bulb and the next day the temp was 68-70 and the humidity was the same.

That was 8 days ago and the temps in the closet are holding at 68-70 and the humidity is 70-72.

Here in Philly, to run 2 x 60 watt bulbs 24/7 costs me $15.03 a month. I can live with that number (more $$ for sticks).

Dando


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## CaptainBlenderman (Sep 3, 2010)

For what it's worth, I use kitty litter in both of my desktop humis (50 ct. at home and 20 ct. at work) and I have had to up the ante with humidification. Instead of spraying the KL, I place a damp sponge (actually, a small sponge cut in half) on the edge of my KL containers so the KL has some moisture to transfer. I check them every day or two to make sure the RH is okay and it's been holding solid. I just re-dampen the sponges as needed every few days or so. It's kind of an active/passive humidification set up and it's working very well in this dry, cold Michigan weather. As for temperature, I didn't realize fluctuations could be that damaging. Regardless, the temp at work holds steady and the temp here at home we maintain in the low 60s and it doesn't seem to be fluctuating much. So I can't really speak to that.


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